4 ms·

The same argument could be made about a bunch of marketplaces though: Ebay, Mechanical Turk, Airbnb, etc.

icebraining 11y ago
Well, eBay and AirBnB sellers/hosts are not really selling their labour, but their assets. As for the Mechanical Turk, well...
jdmichal 11y ago
There's a distinct difference between those "marketplaces" and Uber, and that's that Uber sets the price, not the member. When I Ebay something, I set the price. If I request a HIT on MTurk, I set the price. If I put up a room on Airbnb, I set the price. If I hop in my car and turn on Uber, I don't set the price. Uber does. I would think that setting my own price is a significant test for being a "marketplace".
- amyjess 11y ago
  Also, allowing customers to choose who to go with. Uber doesn't allow customers to choose a driver; the system assigns one to you. On the other hand, an eBay customer bids on whatever auctions they want to bid on, and they know the seller's identity beforehand. With eBay, you can go "I had a bad experience with this guy before, so I'll look and see if anyone else is selling this item so I don't have to deal with this person again". With Uber/Lyft, you're stuck with "ugh, the system matched me with this guy, guess I'm going to have to constantly cancel and re-request until I'm matched with someone else" (for the record, I've only had to do this twice in the almost two years I've been using Lyft).
s73v3r 11y ago
Not really. An eBay seller negotiates their own price with the buyer, independent of eBay. Uber/Lyft set a price, and the driver has no say in it.
ape4 11y ago
Uber drivers are way more cogs then Ebay sellers. They are representing Uber so they are instructed to offer water to the client, say "how are you today sir", etc.
- morgante 11y ago
  It's encouraged, but they're not instructed to do so. Plenty of Uber drivers never offer water or say "sir" but remain on the platform.
- pbreit 11y ago
  No they aren't (in the US).

Well, eBay and AirBnB sellers/hosts are not really selling their labour, but their assets. As for the Mechanical Turk, well...

jdmichal 11y ago

There's a distinct difference between those "marketplaces" and Uber, and that's that Uber sets the price, not the member. When I Ebay something, I set the price. If I request a HIT on MTurk, I set the price. If I put up a room on Airbnb, I set the price. If I hop in my car and turn on Uber, I don't set the price. Uber does. I would think that setting my own price is a significant test for being a "marketplace".

amyjess 11y ago
Also, allowing customers to choose who to go with. Uber doesn't allow customers to choose a driver; the system assigns one to you. On the other hand, an eBay customer bids on whatever auctions they want to bid on, and they know the seller's identity beforehand. With eBay, you can go "I had a bad experience with this guy before, so I'll look and see if anyone else is selling this item so I don't have to deal with this person again". With Uber/Lyft, you're stuck with "ugh, the system matched me with this guy, guess I'm going to have to constantly cancel and re-request until I'm matched with someone else" (for the record, I've only had to do this twice in the almost two years I've been using Lyft).

s73v3r 11y ago

Not really. An eBay seller negotiates their own price with the buyer, independent of eBay. Uber/Lyft set a price, and the driver has no say in it.

ape4 11y ago

Uber drivers are way more cogs then Ebay sellers. They are representing Uber so they are instructed to offer water to the client, say "how are you today sir", etc.

morgante 11y ago
It's encouraged, but they're not instructed to do so. Plenty of Uber drivers never offer water or say "sir" but remain on the platform.
pbreit 11y ago
No they aren't (in the US).